Payslips, TPAD and Transfers: One Course Covers All Three

Kenyan teachers log into three different TSC portals every month, and most mix them up. The TSC Services course on Kaziiko Academy brings all three together so you stop wasting time on the wrong login.

The confusion is real. A teacher hunting for a payslip on TPAD finds nothing but appraisal questions. Someone applying for a transfer on T-Pay never finds the form. Most teachers figure it out eventually through frustration and YouTube videos. But the stakes are high: a missed transfer deadline or an unverified payslip deduction costs money, and those mistakes sit in the system for months.

What Each Portal Actually Does

T-Pay is where your money lives. T-Pay is the Teachers Service Commission's payroll portal, at tpay.tsc.go.ke. It is where a TSC teacher views and downloads payslips, downloads the annual P9 tax certificate, and where third-party deductions such as SACCO contributions and check-off loan repayments are recorded against the payslip. NSSF contributions, SHIF, and the Affordable Housing Levy are deductible before PAYE is worked out, so a correct payslip depends on understanding the order of deductions.

TPAD 2 is not about pay at all, even though the name sounds like it is. TPAD 2 is the Teachers Service Commission's performance appraisal portal, at tpad2.tsc.go.ke. It handles appraisal and professional development records. It does not handle your salary, your payslip or your deductions, and no amount of TPAD activity moves money. The Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) system is mandatory for all teachers and must be completed every term. Teachers who need TPAD scores for promotion applications have to track completion deadlines separately.

HRMIS and the Transfer portal handle postings. Teachers Online provides links to registration services, registration status, TPAD2, profile updates, the Transfer and Swap module, CBE and discipline modules, teacher posting and entry/exit services, deployment applications and promotion adverts. This is where a teacher applies to move schools or swap posts with a colleague. The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) is implementing one of the most significant reforms to teachers' payroll management in recent years by introducing a digital Control Sheet within the T-Pay platform. The Commission is adopting a decentralised approach in which schools become the first point of payroll validation. For teachers, the changes are expected to reduce payroll discrepancies arising from outdated records, delayed transfers or administrative omissions.

Why Teachers Get Stuck

Each system has its own login. Many teachers use the same password everywhere, then forget which username goes where. T-Pay takes your TSC number or national ID. TPAD and HRMIS use different credentials. A teacher locked out of one portal still has access to the others, but they don't know it, so they assume the system is down.

The other big problem is that payslip errors often trace back to transfer delays. If a teacher's posting has not yet updated in the system, their new school does not appear on the payslip. TSC cannot process their salary adjustment until the transfer record is final. A verified Kenyan expert on Kaziiko can help trace these snags, but a teacher who understands the three portals can spot the problem themselves.

Understanding payslips also means reading them right. SHIF, NSSF and the housing levy are deducted from gross pay before PAYE is calculated. Too many teachers think they are being overcharged because they do not know this order. The payslip line for taxable pay should already be lower than gross—that is correct, not a mistake.

What a Good Course Covers

Kaziiko Academy courses on TSC services walk through login steps, show you how to read a payslip line by line, explain which deductions are legal and which warrant a query, and teach you to spot when a transfer has not yet updated. A course does three things at once: it cuts down the time you spend hunting portals, it answers questions before you get stuck, and it protects your salary.

A structured course is faster than piecing it together from blogs and videos. It shows the workflow: check your payslip first, track your transfer status second, complete your TPAD third—in the order that makes sense. Most teachers never see this sequence laid out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I find my payslip online?

The Teachers Service Commission's payroll portal is at tpay.tsc.go.ke. To view your TSC payslip online, go to the T-PAY portal at tpay.tsc.go.ke and log in with your TSC number (or National ID), your password and the security-stamp sum.

What is TPAD and why does it matter for my job?

The Teacher Performance Appraisal and Development (TPAD) system is mandatory for all teachers and must be completed every term. TPAD scores also matter if you apply for promotion: 50,000 TSC teacher promotions depend on TPAD scores, panel scoring, and common application accuracy. It is not about pay; it is about career progress.

How long does a teacher transfer take?

This depends on whether your current employer has approved your release and whether your new school has been notified. Heads of Institution are expected to maintain up-to-date staff registers, verify reporting dates, retain copies of transfer and deployment letters and ensure new teachers are promptly captured in institutional records. Check the Transfer and Swap portal on HRMIS to track status.

Can I see my P9 tax form on T-Pay?

Yes. T-Pay is where a TSC teacher downloads the annual P9 tax certificate. Log in to tpay.tsc.go.ke with your TSC number and password. Open the P9(s) section in the menu. Select the tax year, then click Print to view and save the P9 as a PDF.